Xandar's Saga: His Chosen Victory
by PotterTheLoneWanderer
Summary: Xandar and Jane are just trying to get along in a new world until they follow a motorcycle and they get dragged into an unexpected fight with the Chosen.
1. Curiosity Killed the Rat

**A/N: **This is going to be the first of a series of stories about a character i've made called Xandar, and his wanderings around the tribe world. A few of The Tribes past and current characters will be showing up in these stories, so i hope you enjoy them.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own The Tribe or any of the characters in the tv show, i'm just borrowing them

**Chapter One: Curiosity Killed the Rat**

The stars didn't look the same any more, they should of but they didn't, and he didn't know why. They were the same shape, size and colour as before. Their positions in the sky hadn't changed either, but they were different. He couldn't quite tell why, he'd been thinking about it for months. Maybe it was because there wasn't any more pollution, so the stars seemed brighter. Or, as there weren't any more adults around, they seemed further away. He didn't know, but they weren't the same as he remembered them. Not that his memory was the most reliable, he didn't even know who he was or where he came from.

"XANDAR!" A high pitched voice shouted.

Xandar turned his head away from the sky and looked up the hill he was lying on. He could see smoke rising up into the air from the fire he knew was lit at the top.

"XANDAR, WHERE ARE YOU!?!" the voice shouted again.

This time Xandar decided to get to his feet. He climbed the hill heading towards the fire. When he reached the top of the hill his gaze fell upon a girl. She was no older than 15, with long brown hair flowing down her back. He walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder. She let out a small squeal and span round. Her dazzling green eyes met his and for a moment she stood still, then her face broke out into a smile and she hugged him.

"You're ok." She said, sounding relieved. "I thought that something had happened to you."

"I'm fine Jane, but you should really stop shouting. We don't know who could be out there." Xandar reprimanded.

"Stop worrying, we're fine. There's no-one round here for miles. Now come and have something to eat." Jane said and she grabbed his had and led him over to the fire.

Xandar sat down next to an old tattered rucksack. He reached into it and pulled out two plates, then went into the side pockets and withdrew two pen-knives. Jane took a fish form over the fire and shared it between the two plates.

"So have you thought any more on where we're headed?" Jane asked.

"Well earlier today I saw some smoke rising from behind those tree's to the north. So I thought we'd head that way. Hopefully there'll be a town or something because we're running low on supplies." Xandar replied.

"Yeah I could really do with eating something other then fish and beans." Jane moaned.

"Don't get your hopes up too much, it was probably just a camp fire, and even if it was from a town there's no guarantee they'll be anything left to take."

"Aren't you full of positive thoughts."

"I'm just being realistic. Now come and wash your plate in the stream."

They both got up form around the campfire and headed down the hill Xandar was lying on earlier. At the bottom they washed their pots in the stream. Five minutes later they were under the cover of trees in separate Survival bags that Xandar had had in his rucksack.

"I don't see why we have to sleep in this creepy forest instead of the field, or why we can't have proper sleeping bags?" Jane moaned.

"Like I've told you before, we sleep under the trees because it will be harder for anyone to see us. And we use these Survival bags because they take up less space And they're easier to dry if they get wet. Now stop moaning and get some sleep. We've got an early start tomorrow."

Xandar lay facing Jane for a few minutes, absently playing with a dog tag that hung around his neck, until he heard her slow breathing which meant she had fallen asleep. He turned onto his back and realised he had hold of his dog tags. They were the only thing that he had that showed he'd had a life before the virus hit. The only problem was that he didn't know what that life was.

The first memory he had was waking up in a bed with Jane looking down at him. She had told him that he was found on the street unconscious and that her family had taken him in. A few days after he was found Jane's parents fell ill, and only a week later they were dead. So Xandar, Jane and her older brother left the comfort of their home. But why was he found unconscious on the street? And who were his parents? The same two questions bounced around Xandars head until he fell asleep.

_Xandar found himself standing in a long plain white corridor. There were no windows, the only light came from the florescent tubes above him, which gave the corridor a slightly eerie feel. Two doors stood at either end of the corridor and he felt a strange pull to go through the closest one._

_Before Xandar could go through the door he realised that he wasn't alone. Too his right was a small boy with short spiky hair, who looked about 13. Too his left was a beautiful girl with an Amazon look to her, who was about 14 years old. Xandar was about to ask them who they were when the small boy turned to him and spoke._

"_Look we can't just go barging in there!" he whispered_

"_You're not backing out on us now are you?" the girl replied_

_Without any control over his own voice Xandar joined in the whispered conversation too._

"_Yeah you've heard what they're trying to do." _

"_No, I'm not backing out. I just think we need a plan before we go in there or…"_

**VROOOOOOOOOOOOOM**

Xandar woke up with a start and opened his eyes to see the sun shining down through the treetops.

"What was that noise?" he asked

"It was a motorbike." Jane replied

"A motorbike! Are you sure? We haven't seen a working car or bike since the virus hit."

"I'm positive. It had two wheels, a guy sitting on top and was going really fast." Jane said in a hurt voice.

"Ok, I believe you. Which way did it go?"

"It headed in the direction of that smoke you saw yesterday." Jane pointed over the trees to the north as she spoke.

"We'll follow it then. We were heading in that direction anyway. So we'll just follow the tracks. I want to find out where they got their bike from."

"Are you sure you want to do that? You know the old saying, curiosity killed the rat."

Xandar shook his head and gave a little chuckle.

"It's cat, not rat." He pointed out. "Now come on and pack your survival bag away."

It only took them a couple of minutes to pack up and head out from under the trees into the open field. Xandar easily spotted the tracks the motorbike had left and they set off after them.


	2. A Little Misunderstanding

**A/N:** I forgot to mention that this story takes place in the middle of series 2 of the tribe. Thank you to the two people who have left me a review so far.

**Chapter Two: A Little Misunderstanding**

A few hours later, Xandar and Jane had finally reached the end of the motorbike tracks. They had ended up in a very small village. It was made up of one road which had a few run down houses on either side of it, what looked like a convenience store in the middle, an inn at the start and an old dilapidated church at the far end. Xandar took note of the convenience store when he spotted it and decided to check if it had any supplies later, he first wanted to check out the motorbike. It was parked outside the inn across the road from them so Xandar headed towards it.

"Xandar, what are you doing?" Jane asked.

Xandar stopped and turned around.

"I'm just going to have a look at this bike, and then we can go to that convenience store for supplies." Xandar explained.

Xandar headed towards the motorbike again, keeping an eye out for its owner. When he reached it he was amazed at its condition. It looked brand new, bar the mud on the tires. Xandar could tell that whoever owned this bike thought of it as a prized possession. He went to the front of the bike to see if the keys were in the ignition, thinking that he and Jane could make a quick getaway, when someone put an arm around his throat and dragged him backwards.

"Thinking of stealing my bike was you?" A deep voice said.

"No, I was just admiring it. I've not seen a motorbike in a while." Xandar replied.

"I don't believe you." The voice growled, and his arm tightened around Xandar's throat.

Xandar felt himself getting dizzy and he knew he had to do something soon or he would black out, and then there was no telling what this guy would do to him or Jane. So he threw both his arms over his shoulders grabbed the guy behind him, bent forward and tossed him over his head. The boy hit the ground with a thud and Xandar walked over to him and put a foot on his chest to keep him on the ground. The boy started to struggle, trying to throw Xandar's foot off.

"Xandar, are you alright?" Jane asked sounding worried; she had run over during the scuffle.

"Yeah I'm fine. We've just had a little misunderstanding." He replied.

Xandar looked down at the boy on the floor and saw him properly for the first time. He had short, messy black hair, was well built, and he was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket that had the arms cut off it. Since Jane had come over he had stopped struggling and was trying to look as cool as possible while lying on the floor.

"If you let me up I'm sure we could sort our little misunderstanding out." He said cheekily.

"Come on Xandar, let him up, I'm sure he won't try and hurt us." Jane pleaded; she seemed to have taken a liking to him.

"He won't hurt us!" Xandar exclaimed. "He just tried to strangle me!"

"Like you said, it was a misunderstanding. Now I know you don't want to steal my bike I promise not to strangle you." The boy said.

"There, he promised not to hurt you. Will you let him up now?" Jane asked.

"Fine," He said sounding exasperated. "But if you try anything."

"I won't" the boy replied.

Xandar reluctantly took his foot off the boy and offered him a hand. He took it and Xandar pulled him up off the floor. As soon as he was up he punched Xandar in the face, who fell to the ground.

"Son of a…" Xandar exclaimed

"I didn't strangle you." He pointed out with a mischievous grin on his face.

Jane laughed at this comment and Xandar starred at her in disbelief. She walked over to the boy.

"I'm Jane, and that's Xandar." She said.

"I'm Slade." He replied.

Slade walked over to Xandar and offered him a hand. Xandar just starred at him and didn't take it.

"Look, I'll by you a drink in that inn and we can call it even ok?" Slade asked.

Xandar took hold of Slade's hand and Slade pulled him up. All three off them headed into the inn. When they were inside Slade went up to the bar, Jane started walking around the room and Xandar sat down at one of the tables. He looked around the room; it didn't look like the inn got many visitors. There was a thin layer of dust on the floor, tables and stairs leading to the next floor. A few of the tables had cigarette burns on them and some of the chairs only had three legs.

"Here." Said Slade, and he put a can of beer on the table in front of Xandar.

"Thanks." Xandar said, and he picked up the can and took a sip.

"Look, I'm sorry about hitting you but I was kind of pissed off." Slade explained.

"It's alright; I'd have probably done the same thing."

"So what are you two doing in a run down place like this?" Slade asked.

"Actually we were following you. You rode passed us last night and we decided to follow you. It had been a while since we saw a working motorbike. We were coming here anyway to look for supplies." Xandar explained. "What about you?"

"I'm just…" Slade paused and took a sip of his beer "Just passing through."

"OK" Xandar said, he didn't sound convinced though he thought Slade was hiding something.

"Oooooooooh Xandar, come and look at this." Jane said, sounding excited.

Xandar looked over and saw that Jane was looking at a cigarette vendor.

"What's with her?" Slade asked. "Is she your girlfriend? Cause you strike me as the type that would travel alone."

Xandar snorted into his can.

"No she's not my girlfriend. I'm looking after her. I made a promise to her brother." Xandar explained.

They both sat there in silence drinking their beers for a few minutes. Xandar started to absently play with his dog-tags, wrapping the chain around his fingers.

"What are they?" Slade asked curiously.

"What?" Xandar replied.

"P.O.Xandar." Slade read, leaning closer for a better look. "I take it that the dog-tags are yours then?"

"Oh, yeah" Xandar replied, suddenly realizing what Slade was talking about.

"Where did you get them?"

"Well my dad gave them to me." Xandar improvised.

"Right."

"So have you seen anyone else in this little village since you arrived?" Xandar asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Apart from the bartender, no. I had a look around when I got here and the houses looked like they're being lived in, but there was no-one in them, and the convenience store was empty too. I haven't checked the church yet."

"Hey you two, come and listen to this." Jane called. She was standing by the door.

Xandar and Slade walked over to the door and went outside. At first they couldn't hear anything, but after a few seconds they heard some chanting.

"**ZOOT, ZOOT, ZOOT!"**

"What's that all about?" Jane asked.

"I don't know" Xandar and Slade replied.

"Let's go and find out." Jane said sounding excited.

"Hold on." Xandar said. "Give me your bag."

Jane handed her bag over to Xandar.

"Wait here." Xandar ordered.

He headed back into the inn and went over to the bar. He put his and Jane's bags on the bar and called the bartender.

"Could you put these in a room upstairs? This should cover it." He asked, and he placed a silver necklace on the bar.

The bartender nodded, grabbed the bags and headed up the stairs. Xandar turned around and went back outside. He tapped Slade and Jane on the shoulder.

"Ok let's go." He said

They set off in the direction of the church, as that's where the chanting was coming from. As they got further down the street the chanting got louder and louder.

"**ZOOT, ****ZOOT, ****ZOOT!"**

As they approached the church Xandar got an uneasy feeling in his stomach. They had to go round the edge of the church to reach the source of the chanting which was coming from the graveyard. They all ducked down behind some bushes and peered over the top. Before them they saw about 30 people in blue robes, all punching their fists into the air with each chant and at the very front of the group, leading the chanting, they saw a man in white robes and a woman holding a baby.


	3. Zoot's Will

**Chapter Three: Zoot's Will**

Xandar, Jane and Slade were stunned by what was before them. It looked like some form of a cult, but for what they had no idea. Xandar ducked back down behind the bushes and pulled Jane and Slade with him.

"I think we should get back to the inn and get out of here." He said.

"You go if you want; I want to see what this is about." Slade stated

"So do I." Jane agreed.

"Fine, but at the first sign of trouble we're leaving." Xandar said sounding annoyed.

All three of them peered over the bushes again and watched the sight in front of them. The chanting had stopped and the mass of people were all standing stock still, staring at the man in white waiting for him to speak.

"Last night an unbeliever crept into my room while I was sleeping and tried to kill me with this."

The man held up a dagger, and the crowd gathered below him gasped.

"Yes, they wanted to send me to the next world, so I could be with Zoot. But Zoot, benevolent as he is, came to me in a dream and woke me in time. He said that it wasn't my time to join him, as my work here is unfinished, but that the assassin could join him in the next world so their sins can be forgiven!"

The crowd roared there approval at this and started chanting again.

"**ZOOT! ZOOT! ZOOT!"**

"I don't like where this is going." Xandar whispered. "We should go now, while they're…"

Xandar stopped in mid sentence as a loud scream pierced the air. He looked to the top of the church's tower and saw a cloaked blue figure holding a struggling girl. He turned back to the white robed man, dreading what he was going to say next.

"She may not know it but her brief moment of madness has granted her an eternity of bliss in the next world with Zoot."

"NO, PLEASE DON'T. I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" The girl screamed.

"Again, Zoot shows his omnipotence. He told me in my dream that the girl would ask to be spared, and that the decision should rest with the Supreme Mother. So, what say you, Supreme Mother?"

The robed man turned to face the women next to him, so did the entire crowd.

"I say that she should be granted the pleasure of joining Zoot in the next world. How else will her soul be saved?" She said, with a deranged smile.

The crowd let out a loud cheer and again chanting broke out. "**ZOOT! ZOOT! ZOOT!"**

Xandar felt someone move next to him, so he turned to see who it was and saw Jane standing up. He flung out and arm and pulled her back behind the bush. She hit the ground with a force harder then his pull, and he looked across and saw the Slade had pulled her back too.

"Jane, what were you doing?" Xandar asked.

"I was trying to save her. They're going to kill her!" Jane said sounding hysterical. "Why don't you two do something?"

"We can't do anything, Jane." Xandar replied.

"Yes you can, you can go and help her. Or are you both cowards?"

Xandar was about to retort, but for the second time that day a loud scream filled the air, and a dull thud followed shortly after. Xandar knew there was nothing they could do for that girl now. Jane burst into tears. Xandar put his arms around her and hugged her.

"Keep her quiet." Slade whispered. His face was very pale. "You don't want them to hear us do you?"

Xandar glared over at Slade and then turned his attention back to Jane; he patted her gently on the back.

"There's nothing we could have done for her, don't blame yourself." He said softly.

"We…could…have…helped." Jane said between sobs.

"If we'd have done anything the same thing would have happened to us." Xandar explained.

Jane cried into his shoulder. Xandar looked over at, Slade perplexed at what he should do but, Slade just shrugged his shoulders. So instead, Xandar looked over the bushes once again and saw that the crowd of robed figures were heading back into the church.

"Come on, Jane. We're going back to the inn to get our things, and then we're getting out of here." Xandar said.

Jane just nodded her head, tears still streaming down her face. They both turned round and started crawling away from the bush. After a few meters Xandar noticed that there were still only two of them, so he turned back around to face the bush. Slade was still crouched there watching the last of the robed figures entering the church.

"Come on, Slade we don't want to push our luck!" Xandar whispered.

"I'm staying." Slade said.

"What!" Xandar exclaimed.

"I'm going in there." Slade said pointing at the church.

"Are you stupid? Or have you just got a death wish? If you go in there you're going to end up like that girl."

"There's just something that I've got to do."

"Fine, but you're going on your own. We're getting out of here." Xandar said sounding frustrated.

Xandar watched as Slade crawled round the bushes and headed for the church, and then he turned round and headed back to the inn with Jane. As they headed back Xandar's head was so filled with thoughts that it started to ache. Who were those people? Why had they killed that girl? Who was Zoot? What did Slade want to find out so much that he would risk his life for it? All these questions bounced around his head so much that he didn't notice when they reached the inn.

"We're here." Jane said in a dead voice.

"Huh" Xandar said snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, right. Let's get inside."

As they entered the inn, Xandar noticed that, Jane looked a little disorientated. He figured it was because of what they had just been through. He put both hands on her shoulders, guided her over to a chair and placed her on it.

"You wait here." He said gently "I'll go find out what room our things are in, then I can get them and we can leave."

Jane didn't say anything she just stared blankly across the room. Xandar walked over to the bar and got the bartenders attention.

"Which room did you put our things in?" He asked.

"Number two." The bartender replied gruffly "Here's the key." And he shoved a room key into Xandar's hand.

Xandar headed up the stairs looking for room number two. It was the door to his right as he got upstairs. He but the key into the lock and it gave a click as he unlocked it. The door creaked slightly as he pushed it open. He saw his and Jane's rucksacks on the bed. He picked them both up, hoping that the next place they stopped in would be empty, as Jane looked like she needed some time to recover from this ordeal. He went back through the door and was about to close it when, for the third time that day, he heard a loud scream, from downstairs.


	4. Choices

Chapter Four: Choices

Xandar dropped both bags and went to the top of the stairs. He lay down on the floor and peered through the banisters. He saw two cloaked figures standing at the table where he had left Jane, and she was pinned between them, both of them with a hand on each shoulder holding her down.

"There's no one else back here, apart from the bartender." 

Xandar tilted his head to try and see where the voice was coming from but he couldn't see any further into the room.

"The guardian said to leave him here."

"Right."

"Actually bring him out here; I want to ask him some questions about her."

Xandar heard a door open and a few seconds later the bartender was being pushed into view by another cloaked figure.

"Was there anyone else travelling with this girl?"

"No, she was alone." the bartender replied.

"Are you sure? Because we've caught someone sneaking around the church."

"I wouldn't lie to you Luke"

"So the motorbike outside belongs to the man we caught?" Luke asked

"Yes, but they came separately, not together."

"Really?" said Luke sounding unconvinced.

Xandar saw Luke looking in the direction of the bar. He couldn't see what he was looking at but he had a good guess, the key rack, and not all of the keys were there, he was holding one in his hand.

"You two go and check upstairs. See if there's anyone else. We'll stay here a watch these two." Luke ordered.

Xandar quickly got to his feet, and dashed into the room. He didn't have much time to decide what to do; he could hear the two men heading up the stairs. He threw the room key and Jane's rucksack onto the bed and pushed open the window, looked out on both sides and saw what he was looking for on the right. He grabbed hold of the drainpipe, pulled himself out of the window and started to climb up to the roof. It sounded like he had escaped just in time as he heard the door open, and two people walk into the room.

"Go and look out that window."

Xandar pulled himself onto the roof just as the man looked out of the window.

"There's no sign of anyone."

"OK. Let's try the other rooms."

Xandar heard them leave the room. He slowly crawled over to the part of the roof that was over the front door, so he could see when the four men left. After a couple of minutes he heard some voices drifting up from out of the bar.

"There's no one else here. All of the rooms are locked apart from one, and all we found in there was a room key and a rucksack."

"Well, it seems you _were_ telling the truth." said Luke. "I'm sorry for doubting you."

"So will you leave the girl here with me, as she is not withthe intruder?" asked the bartender.

"No, I cannot do that. The Guardian wants her at the church; he says that is Zoot's will." replied Luke.

"If it's Zoot's will then she'll have to go with you."

"We shall leave you then."

The sound of a scraping chair and footsteps alerted Xandar that they were heading toward the inn door, so he pushed himself away from the roof's edge to properly hide himself. He lay there for about a minute until he heard the footstep getting fainter then, when he decided that they were a safe distance away, he pulled himself closer to the edge again. Looking down the road towards the church he saw five people walking toward it, four wearing cloak's surrounding one that wasn't. He crawled back to the side of the roof with the drainpipe and shimmed down it. 

When he reached the ground he didn't know what to do, should he go and try and rescue Slade and Jane? or should he get out of there when he had the chance? He reasoned with himself that he had only just met Slade so he didn't really owe him anything, and that maybe he'd done all he could for Jane. And even if he went in there to rescue them there were thirty odd of them and only one of him. So his mind made up, he headed to Slade's motorbike.

He climbed onto it and was about to start the engine when he remembered something, the promise he'd made to Ian (Jane's brother) that he would protect his sister. He couldn't break that promise now after what Ian had done for him, and Jane was the only friend, and the only living tie to his past that he'd got. So he got off the bike and as he did he caught a glimpse of the ignition. He smiled to himself, there were no keys, it looked like fate even wanted him to go back.

His mind made up for certain this time he headed back towards the church. He didn't have any idea how he was going to rescue Jane, but he was sure he would think of something. Halfway down the road to the church however, his thoughts were cut off when he felt a sharp blow to the head and it all went black.

* * *

"_So you're the new guy then?"_

_Xandar looked around and saw a wide school yard with lots of kids in uniforms hurrying into a big school building. He turned to where the voice came from and saw a small boy with spiky red hair looking up at him._

"_Well as you're new here you're going to need someone to show you around the place, and tell you who's who and what's what."_

"_Sure." said Xandar. "Aren't you a bit young to be in the same year as me?"_

"_Well normally yeah, but I've been skipped forward a few years cause I'm a genius."_

"_Really?"_

"_Yeah, my dad's really proud of me. He works at Pandorax so you're dad will probably meet him at some point."_

"_How do you know my dad works for Pandorax?"_

"_I saw the lab-coat he was wearing when he dropped you off. By the way my name's Jack."_

"_I'm Xandar."_

* * *

Xandar woke up with a dull ache on the back of his head, he felt where the pain was coming from and found a small lump. He wasn't completely sure where he was, but he knew that it was comfortable. Looking around the room he saw an open window, a wardrobe and the bed that he was lying in. Slowly he realised that he was back in the inn.

* * *

**A/N: **Any reviews would really beappreciated


	5. Explanation

A/N: Sorry about the extreemly long break since my last update but i've been having some problems with my computer and internet connection and it's taken me a while to sort out.

**Chapter Five: Explanation**

Xandar quickly got out of the bed and headed across the room towards the door. He gently pulled the door open and poked his head out to see if anyone was around. The corridor was empty but he could hear voices drifting up from the bar downstairs. He slowly headed toward the stairs, treading carefully so none of the floorboards creaked. Peering through the stair banisters he could see two hooded figures walking away from the bartender. He made up his mind there and then. He was going to grab his rucksack, climb out of the window and head to the church. It was obvious that he couldn't trust the bartender, who was probably arranging his transfer to this group of loons.

Back in his room, Xandar picked up his rucksack from atop of the bed and headed to the window. Just as he was about to open the window the door swung open and somebody walked in. Xandar quickly spun round and was face to face with the bartender.

"Are you going somewhere?"

Xandar didn't reply. He just stood there thinking. After a few seconds he made up his mind that he was going to run for it, and turned back to the window.

"I wouldn't do that."

Xandar hesitated, and then turned back round, fearing that the bartender had something trained on him. He hadn't, he was just standing in the middle of the room. So, Xandar went back to the window.

"I still wouldn't do that." Said the bartender again.

"Why not?" Xandar asked reluctantly, with one foot resting on the windowsill.

"Because they'll be looking for you."

"And why do they know that I'm here?" Xandar asked accusingly.

"They don't know _you're_ here. They just think that someone's here because they don't believe that that girl came here alone."

"That _girl_ is called Jane. And you gave her to them. How do I know that you won't do the same to me?"

"I didn't give her…Jane, to them. They just came in after you'd gone upstairs, I couldn't stop them. You don't know what the Chosen are like!" he said imploringly.

"The Chosen? What are they chosen for?" Xandar asked confused.

"They're the followers of Zoot."

"Of who?"

The bartender looked at Xandar quizzically, as if he thought that he was pulling his leg.

"Look what's your name?" he asked.

"Xandar."

"I'm Paul. Look Xandar, I'll explain all of this to you if you'll come downstairs and sit down."

"Alright."

A few minutes later Xandar was sitting in a room behind the bar waiting for Paul to reappear. He walked back into the room carrying two pints of beer and he placed one down in front of Xandar.

"Thanks." Xandar said taking hold of the glass and having a swig. "So what is all this stuff about the Chosen and Zoot about then?"

Paul sat in silence for a few minutes, seemingly gathering his thoughts.

"I don't know all the details about them. I can only tell you what I've heard from conversations."

"OK, go on then." Xandar prompted.

"Well I know that they all worship this guy called Zoot. Who supposedly grew up in a city to the south of here, and came up with this idea of 'Power and Chaos'. The leader of the Chosen, the Guardian…"

"The guy in white robes that had that girl thrown off the church roof?" interrupted Xandar.

"Yeah him. He used to hang around with this Zoot guy. Now I don't know how but Zoot died and the guardian's turned him into some sort of god, and he's been peddling this around to anyone that believes him." Paul explained.

"OK that explains the guy's in the robes but what happen to this place?" Xandar asked gesturing around the place.

"Well, about four months ago we were having a tribe meeting in this inn and that Guardian guy comes walking in with eight or ten people. He starts spouting about Zoot and how we should all follow in his glory. Now we figured that he's some sort of loon so we told him to shut up and go away, but a few of his guys started to get rough so we had to force them out and they left."

"That still doesn't explain what's happened."

"A couple of months later they came back. The Guardian now started spouting about how they've now got the Holy trinity or something, and this girl they call the Supreme Mother comes and stands next to him holding a baby."

"I've seen her too. She basically sealed that girls fate." Xandar said disgusted.

"Yeah well, she wasn't like that in the beginning. She looked like she really didn't want to be there, and she tried to escape a few times too. But after a few weeks of been locked up in that church she seemed to change. Most of them do. I think they must brainwash them or something."

"Well why didn't you kick them out like the first time?" Xandar asked.

"The problem with that is they came back with three times as many people, so they outnumbered us. We couldn't do anything about them. On the first night they got here they took up refuge in that church and took a few of our tribe with them to keep us quiet. They whittled us down slowly night-by-night, taking one or two at a time until there were seven of us left. The seven of us decided to sneak into the church and kill the Guardian. We figured take off the head and the rest of them wouldn't know what to do."

"What happened?"

"Well we got into the church, but one of us had already been turned and he started shouting his head off. So we got caught and taken prisoner. The Guardian only let me go because he needed someone that knew how to get food in around here, and to lure in travellers. And that was about a month ago."

"Why don't you just make a run for it?"

"I can't, they've got my brother and sister still locked up in there, and I owe it to them and the others that are left to get them out. I've already let down my girlfriend." Said Paul sounding choked up. "She was the one they threw off the roof this morning."

And finally as if he had been holding it back for weeks Paul broke down into tears. Xandar looked around the room uncomfortably, not knowing what to do. Finally he gave Paul a feeble couple of taps of the shoulder.

"I'm sorry." Xandar said

To give Paul time to recover from his breakdown Xandar slowly drank his pint. Eventually Paul stopped crying, and Xandar put the empty pint glass down.

"So what are you going to do?" Paul asked sniffling a little.

"Well I'm going to get into that church and try to get Jane back."

"Are you crazy. You can't do that! Why do you think I knocked you out when you were following them last time?" Paul asked astounded.

"That was you?"

"Of course it was."

"Well it doesn't matter if you think it's a bad idea I'm going to do it." Xandar said

"If you are going to do it could you at least wait until it's dark? You'll have more of a chance." Paul pleaded.

"Fine I'll wait till it's dark." Xandar replied reluctantly.

"Good."

With that settled Paul picked up both the empty pint glasses and headed back to the bar. Xandar decided that he should try and plan how he was going to get Jane out of that church because at the moment he hadn't got a clue.


	6. Dejavu

**Chapter Six: Déjá-vu**

As soon as the sun had set, Xandar left his room. He had hidden his rucksack under the bed; he would have to come back for it later. As soon as he reached the bottom of the staircase, he headed straight for the door.

"So, you're really going through with this then?" Paul asked.

Xandar turned around and saw Paul sitting at one of the tables with a half empty pint glass, and a book of crossword puzzles in front of him. It looked as if he had been waiting for Xandar to come down the stairs all evening.

"Yeah I am. Jane's my friend and…well I've got a promise that I have to keep." Xandar replied.

Paul hesitated for a moment. He looked as if he wanted to ask Xandar what the promise was, but he didn't. Instead he held out his hand, in which he held a photo and a hunting knife.

"Here take these."

Xandar took them both, and looked at Paul quizzically.

"What are these for?" he asked.

"Well that knife is for self-defence, you know, just in case."

"And the photo?"

"It's a photo of me with my brother and sister. If you see them in there could you try and get them out too?" Paul asked hopefully.

Xandar looked down at the photo. It showed three people standing outside the inn on a clear summers day. The two boys looked the same, bar the different coloured hair and a slightly misshaped nose. The girl was standing between them with a glowing smile and bright blonde hair. Xandar looked back up at Paul.

"Yeah I'll try." Xandar replied.

He pocketed the photo, stuck the knife under his belt and headed for the door. He heard Paul say "Good Luck" as he walked out the inn and onto the street. As soon as he was clear of the inn Xandar crouched down low and started moving toward the church, making sure that he was always near to a building or a hedgerow so the light from the moon wouldn't show his movements. Slowly he moved closer and closer to the church until he reached the bushes that they had hid behind earlier that day.

Lying flat on the ground, so that he was harder to see, he crawled to the end of the bushes and peered round them. There were two guards by the door of the church and two more patrolling the grounds. He sat and watched them for half an hour taking in the routes that they took around the front of the church, until he saw a weak spot. There was one moment, for a couple of minutes, when the patrolling guards went round the corner of the church and were out of sight of each other and the two guards at the door. Xandar knew what he had to do. He set off crawling around the church to wait for the guard on his next sweep of the grounds.

After a few minutes of lying in the grass, Xandar saw the guard approaching him, and he very carefully pulled out the knife from his belt. He waited till the guard had turned his back on him, then leapt up and struck him on the back of his head with the hilt of the knife. The guard crumpled to the ground. Quickly, Xandar pulled the unconscious guard behind some nearby bushes and pulled off his cloak. Tearing both the sleeves off his own shirt he then tied the guards hands behind his back and his feet together. He picked the cloak up off the floor and walked round the other side of the bush to check if the guard could be seen.

As he pulled the cloak over his head Xandar couldn't shake the feeling of deja-vu that he got. It was as if he'd done this before, vague pictures were forming in his head but he couldn't quite make them out. Before he could dwell any longer on the vague thoughts a shout brought him back to his senses.

"Hey, are you alright round there?"

Xandar realised that he had taken too long tying the guard up, and one of the guard's by the door had gotten suspicious. Quickly he pulled the cloak down over the rest of his body, made sure the hood was covering his face and headed round the corner. He approached the two guards at the door slowly, not wanting to seem too anxious.

"Why didn't you answer me?" one of the guards asked suspiciously.

"I was being sick." Xandar replied.

"What?" said the other guard.

"Must have been something I ate earlier." Xandar stated.

There was a long pause from both of the guards. Xandars hand moved to the knife that was hidden under his cloak.

"You'd better go and get some rest then." One of the guards said finally.

Xandars hand dropped back down to his side and he started to walk past the two guards.

"Wait."

Xandars heart started beating rapidly inside his chest.

"You'd better send someone to replace you."

With a quick nod of his head Xandar walked into the church. "That was the hard part" he thought to himself, "now's just the easy bit of finding Jane and getting out!" He laughed inwardly at his own joke. As now he was inside the church he had no idea where to start looking.


	7. Searching

**Chapter Seven: Searching**

Xandar looked around the room he'd walked into. It was very small, about 5ft wide and 4ft long. On one wall there was a small plaque with some information about the church, he noticed that it was built in 1902. The other side had a long list of names of people, who were long dead, that had donated to the church. Straight ahead there was an old wooden door that stood slightly ajar. It was the only way through into he rest of the church so Xandar, walked through it.

As soon as Xandar walked through the door he stopped and stared in amazement. Covering all the walls in the main hall of the church were giant pictures of a man, with the word Zoot printed at the top of them. Xandar took a closer look at the picture. The man looked like he was wearing a cut up suit; he had war paint smeared on his face, long messy white blonde hair and goggles perched on the top of his head. But what had caught Xandars attention the most were the man's eyes. They had a mad, feral look about them, almost like a wild animal. Tearing himself away from the picture Xandar walked over to the nearest cloaked person and tapped them on their shoulder.

"You're needed on guard duty outside." Xandar said, after they had turned to face him.

"Right." The cloaked figure replied, and they turned and headed out of the hall.

Xandar slowly walked up the aisle of the church passing the rows of seats until he reached the altar. Upon it had been created a shrine; there was a small picture of Zoot and rows of candles. A small group of cloaked figures were kneeling around it silently praying. Xandar knelt down and joined them, looking around he hall for another door as he did so. He spotted a door on both sides of the hall, but he stayed where he was.

After a few minutes of silent praying Xandar noticed that the group he was with had stood up and were heading over to the door on the left side of the hall, so he got up and joined them. He followed the group of people through the door. They walked into a long thin corridor which had a few doors along each wall. The group progressed slowly down the corridor, stopping at each door, where a few people would funnel off into the rooms. As he walked past Xandar looked into one. He saw rows of beds and a couple of sinks on one of the walls. They looked like dormitories.

Eventually Xandar was the only person left in the corridor. It was deathly quiet apart from the small muffled voices he could here coming from a room at the far end of the corridor. Quietly he set off towards the voices he could hear, hoping that it was going to be Jane. He came to the door the voices were coming out off, it was placed in the corner where the corridor turned into another one, and placed his ear against the door.

"and it will soon be time to leave this place." A voice said.

"Are you sure that our numbers are great enough Guardian?" another voice questioned.

"Do you doubt the plans that Zoot has laid out for us Luke?" the Guardian asked.

"No, of course not. I was merely concerned for your safety, our cause will be greatly harmed if we lose you. The Mallrats are well protected within the city." Luke replied cautiously.

"The plan that Zoot has laid out for us shall not fail. He has told me so himself. As for the Mallrats, the Supreme Mother will deal with them, won't you?" the Guardian demanded.

"Yes, I will. I shall pull them apart from with, they are too trusting." A female voice said maliciously.

"Good. You see Luke, the plan is flawless." The Guardian said proudly.

"Yes, Guardian." Luke replied still sounding uncertain. "What shall we do with our potential disciples, if we are to be leaving soon?"

"How many of them are accepting the word of Zoot?" the Guardian asked.

"All but four of them. There's the two that we picked up this morning and the other two."

Xandar couldn't hear anything for a few minutes; he guessed that the Guardian was thinking things over.

"Well those two we've had for a month and they have resisted every chance to accept Zoot's word, and we don't have the time to teach Zoot's word to the other two. Our plans need to move forward quickly. So just get rid off them."

"By get rid of them you mean?" Luke asked.

"Kill them!" the Guardian said impatiently.

Xandar had heard enough. He needed to find Jane quickly. He moved away from the door and went round the corner to look down the rest of the corridor. He quickly walked down the hall putting his ear against each door, checking to see if he could hear Jane inside them. He turned another corner and was beginning to get worried until he saw a cloaked figure standing guard next to a door. He could also hear shouts of help coming from inside.

He slowed his pace down as he approached the guard. As Xandar walked past he gave the guard a nod, as he carefully pulled the knife out of his belt, the guard returned the nod in kind. As soon as he had walked past, Xandar quickly spun round and hit the guard on the back of the neck with the handle of the knife. The guard crumpled to the floor. Xandar was so surprised with the precision of his hit that he stood there stunned at what he'd done. A feeling of déjà-vu washed over him again. Quickly he came to his senses and walked up to the door.

"Jane is that you?" he asked.

"Yes. Is that you Xandar?" Jane asked.

"Yeah. Hold tight, I'm going to get you out of there." Xandar replied.

"I'm here too. If you care." Slade said.

"Oh, great." Xandar sarcasticly replied.


	8. Rescue

**Chapter Eight: Rescue**

"What do you mean, oh great?" Slade asked sounding insulted.

"Well, let's see. It's your fault that we're in this mess to begin with. If you hadn't of had to go and look around then you wouldn't of got yourself caught, so Jane wouldn't of been caught either and I wouldn't of had to sneak in here to get you out." Xandar explained.

"From what you said earlier, it doesn't sound as if you came for me." Slade pointed out.

"I didn't, I came for Jane. You just happen to be here, that's all." Xandar snapped back.

"Xandar I'm pleased that you're here but would you two stop arguing. If you hadn't noticed we're still locked in a room." Jane said calmly.

"Sorry Jane, you're right. I'll have a look for the keys." Xandar said apologetically.

"Try looking on the guard." Slade said.

"Well how clever of you, I hadn't thought of that." Xandar replied, sarcasm dripping from every word.

Xandar turned away from the door a walked towards the guard, who was still unconscious on the floor. He bent down and started feeling around the guard's waist until he felt some keys.

"I've found them."

"Good, then open the door." Slade replied.

Muttering to himself, Xandar unhooked the keys, stood up and walked towards the door. He started trying each key in the lock.

"What's taking so long?" Slade asked. "It can't be that hard to unlock a door."

"There are a few keys to try alright." Xandar snapped back. "There."

With a satisfying click the door unlocked, and Xandar pushed it open. Standing in front of him was Jane, with a big smile on her face and Slade, who looked begrudgingly thankful. Jane dashed at Xandar and gave him a big hug.

"I took you long enough." Slade moaned. "I would have gotten out of here by myself though soon enough."

"Sure you would have." Xandar said doubtfully through a mouth of Jane's hair.

"I knew you'd come for me." Jane said, and gave him one last squeeze before she let go.

"Yeah she wouldn't shut up about you. But we should really be getting out of here." Slade pointed out.

"But what about those two?" Jane asked pointing into the corner of the room.

Xandar looked to where she was pointing. In the far corner of the room he saw two figures huddled together asleep. It was a boy and a girl, and they looked vaguely familiar to Xandar. He pulled out the photo that Paul had given him and held it up so that he could see it and the two figures together. They looked identical to the boy and girl in the photo, only a lot skinnier. They were Paul's brother and sister.

"We're going to take them with us." Xandar said

"We're what?" Slade asked his mouth agape.

"They're coming with us. I said I'd get them out if I found them." Xandar explained.

"Fine." Slade said sounding exasperated. "Help me get them up then."

Xandar and Slade both walked over to the corner and gently shook the boy and girl. They both stirred and looked up, shocked to see another person in the room.

"Who are you?" They both asked in unison.

"We don't have time for introductions now." Slade said. "He'll explain who he is later."

"Can you both walk?" Xandar asked.

They both nodded.

"I think I hear people coming." Jane said sounding worried.

"Can you both run?" Slade asked.

"We don't know." The boy replied.

"Well we're about to find out." Slade said "Come on." And he and Xandar pulled them both to their feet.

They made their way to the door and Xandar stuck his head out to listen.

"It sounds like there are two of them coming from that way." He said pointing left out of the door.

"Help me drag this guy in here." He said to Slade.

"Why?"

"Just do it." Xandar ordered.

Both he and Slade grabbed an arm each and pulled him into the room.

"What now?" Slade asked.

"Well you three turn right out this door and run down the corridor." Xandar said pointing at Jane and the boy and girl. "And you and me Slade, we'll jump the two guards, drag them in here and lock the door."

"Well that sort of sounds like a plan." Slade replied.

"We don't have time for arguing just do it." Xandar said frustrated.

Jane and Paul's brother and sister ran out of the room and down the corridor. They were only gone a few seconds when a shout rang out down the corridor.

"The prisoners have escaped!"

Xandar and Slade dashed out of the room and came face-to-face with two guards. Without hesitation Xandar punched the guard in front of him in the face, and felt his nose break beneath his fist. The guard crumpled to the floor moaning. Seconds later, Slade punched his guard in the stomach, and while he was bending over grasping it, kneed him in the face. His guard fell to the floor unconscious. They dragged both the guards into the room, and then Xandar locked the door. Without a word to each other they both then turned and ran up the corridor.

They had run round a couple of corners before they saw Jane and the two others again. It looked like they were standing at the end of the corridor with nowhere to go. But as they got closer Xandar saw that there was a wooden ladder leading up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.

"Why are you still standing here?" Xandar asked.

"There's nowhere to go." Jane replied.

"Go up the ladder." Xandar pointed out.

"But we'll be trapped!" Jane exclaimed.

"Well we don't have much of a choice. We can't go back that way; we'll run into the crazy gang. So we've got to go up there. Slade you go up first, then you three and I'll go last. When I get off the ladder pull it up behind me, so they can't follow."

Realizing how desperate their situation was nobody argued with Xandar's plan and they started to climb the ladder. Slade went first and as he got to the top he tried pushing on the trapdoor, but it wouldn't open. It seemed to be jammed shut, so putting all his force behind him he smashed into it with his shoulder. The trapdoor flew open and he climbed inside. Jade followed him up, then the girl and then the boy. As the boy was half way up the ladder Xandar heard footsteps down the corridor.

"Hurry up. I can here them coming." Xandar said.

The boy quickly scrambled up the rest of the ladder and Xandar started to climb. As he was near the top he heard a shout from down the corridor.

"There they are. We've found them."

Xandar didn't bother looking behind him he just threw himself through the trapdoor. Slade and Jane pulled the ladder up quickly after him and slammed the trapdoor shut. They could hear voices from down below.

"They've took the ladder." One voice said.

"Yeah but there's nowhere else to go." Another snickered.

"We'll go look for another ladder, you two stay here and make sure they don't come down." A third ordered.

Xandar looked around the attic they were in. It was dimly lit by the moonlight shining through a few stain glass windows. The attic wasn't that big, maybe 10ft long and 5ft wide, the roof was low so they couldn't stand up properly, and there were a few wooden barrels littered around the place.

"What now? Oh wise and fearless leader." Slade asked sarcastically.

"We've got to get out of here." Xandar replied.

"Obviously, but how? We can't go back down there and they'll be back soon with another ladder." Slade pointed out.

"The window." Xandar exclaimed.

"What?" Slade asked surprised.

Xandar motioned to them all to come closer.

"Look we're only 12ft off the ground at the most. We can jump out one of the windows and make a run for the woods behind the church." Xandar whispered.

"Why don't we just use the ladder? And why are you whispering?" Jane asked.

"I'm whispering so they don't hear us." Xandar said pointing at the trapdoor. "And we're going to use the ladder..."

"But you said..." Slade interrupted.

"I know what I said, just listen will you." Xandar whispered impatiently cutting him off. "Me and you, Slade are going to take one of those barrels each and throw them through a different window at the same time. Then we get the ladder and lower it down through one window and jump out the other one."

Xandar looked at each of them in turn, waiting for a complaint from one of them, but none came.

"Ok, one of you will need to count for me and Slade, and the other two need to lower the ladder."

"I'll count." Jane said.

"We'll do the ladder then." The boy said.

The boy and girl picked up the ladder and carried it over to a window on the right side of the attic. Slade picked up a barrel and walked over to the right window with it. Xandar picked up his barrel, it felt like it was half full with liquid; he guessed it was probably communion wine. He carried it over to a window on the left and waited. He turned round and saw Jane in the middle of the room holding up three fingers. Two fingers. One finger. There was a loud crash as both Xandar's and Slade's barrels flew through the windows at the same time. Xandar watched the boy and girl lower the ladder out of the window they were next too, and then he motioned everyone over to the window he was standing by.

"Ok, I'll jump out first, you come out last Slade. Make sure you roll when you hit the floor to soften your landing, and then run into the trees." Xandar explained.

They all nodded their heads in agreement. Xandar turned and jumped out the window. As soon as he hit the ground he rolled over and stood up. He signalled up to the window for the next person to jump. A split second later Jane, hit the floor with a roll, got up, and headed for the trees. The girl followed and then the boy. Slade was the last, but when he hit the floor Xandar heard a popping sound. Slade got up with a pained expression on his face but he didn't say anything, he just headed for the trees and Xandar followed. They found the others hiding behind a cluster of trees.

"Now we need somewhere to wait out the night." Xandar said.

"We know a place." The boy said "Our father built us a den in these woods when we were little. It's this way."


	9. Separate Ways

**Chapter Nine: Separate Ways**

The boy and girl headed off into the woods and Jane, Slade and Xandar followed them. They'd been walking for five minutes when the boy and girl seemed to just walk through a bush, but as Xandar got closer he saw that they had just lifted up a camouflage net. He lifted it up and followed them through.

Xandar looked around the small den, there was only just enough space to fit them all in. There was a small wooden box with some tins of food and bottles of water in it and three old and worn sleeping bags. He turned to face the others.

"You three get some rest." He said pointing at Jane, and the boy and girl. "Slade and I will keep watch."

Without a word to each other the three of them climbed into the sleeping bags and within a few minutes they'd already fallen asleep.

"So what have you broken?" Xandar asked pointing at Slade's arm.

"I've not broken anything. I've dislocated my shoulder." Slade replied, grimacing as he did.

"So that's what that pop was when you hit the ground. Ok, this is going to hurt but you can't scream."

"What do you mean it's going to hurt?" Slade asked sounding slightly worried.

"Well I'm going to grab hold of your shoulder real tight, then your going to push against me as hard as you can and I'll be pushing back. Hopefully your shoulder will pop back into place. You'll have to bite down on this." Xandar explained, handing him a stick of wood.

"Hopefully! That sounds reassuring."

"You ready?" Xandar asked, grabbing hold of Slade's shoulder.

"Do I have any choice?" Slade replied, clamping down on the piece of wood with his teeth.

"No. On the count of three. One...Two...Three!"

There was a popping sound and lots of muffled yells from Slade, as he collapsed on the floor.

"You didn't say it would f*****g hurt that f*****g much!" Slade swore with tears starting to roll down his cheeks.

"Well it worked didn't it." Xandar pointed out.

"Yeah, but this is going to hurt like hell for a while. Talk to me about something to take my mind off the pain."

"Like what?" Xandar asked.

"I don't know. How about you tell me why you decided to break into a church full of murdering lunatics to rescue her?" Slade said pointing at Jane.

"I almost didn't." Xandar said looking over at Jane sleeping. "I was fully set to leave you both in there. I was even going to take your motorbike, I was sitting on it ready to start the ignition when I remembered the promise I'd made to her brother. Plus it seemed that fate was against me, there wasn't any key."

"That wasn't fate. I keep the key in my boot, so no one can take my bike." Slade explained. "And what promise?"

"Well I was taken in by Jane's family before the virus wiped out all the adults, and they looked after me. But only a couple of weeks after they took me in Jane's parents both died from the virus, so there was only the three of us left and Ian, Jane's brother, looked after both of us. About a month after the virus had started Ian got infected, we didn't think that he would because he was only 19, but he did and it took him a week to die. Just before he died he made me promise to look after Jane, as I was all she had left."

"Wow, talk about unlucky. Most people only lost the two parents but you lost your real parents, then your adoptive parents and then a parental figure. That must have been hard."

"Not really, I try not to think about it to much. Now are you going to tell me why you went snooping around a church full of murdering lunatics?" Xandar asked.

"Let's just say I was looking for someone." Slade replied evasively.

They both lapsed into a few minutes of silence, which was punctuated by a few snores and Slade's occasional groaning.

"You should get some sleep. I'm not going to get any with this pain in my shoulder." Slade said.

"Ok, but wake me up if you hear anything."

"Sure."

Xandar lay down on the floor and piled up a group of leaves to use as a pillow. He closed his eyes and slowly slipped away from consciousness.

*******

"_This is our new house. What do you think, Xandar?" A deep mans voice asked._

_Xandar looked up at the house he was standing in front of. It looked like a normal house; it had a front door and four windows, with a well-kept front lawn._

"_It looks great dad." He replied._

"_It does, doesn't it, and you haven't even seen the pool yet." The male voice said with excitement._

"_That sounds great, but why did we have to move, I liked our old house and my old friends." Xandar moaned._

"_We've been over this dear, your father has been offered a promotion at Pandorax but we had to move here for him to get it. We'll be able to provide a better future for you now. And don't worry I'm sure you'll make lots of new friends." A female voice said softly._

"_Yeah, right." Xandar said looking around at all the posh houses that lined the street. He wasn't sure that he'd get one with any kids around here._

*******

A snapping twig woke Xandar up from his dream. He opened his eyes and had to quickly shield them from the suns glare.

"Did you hear that noise Slade?" Xandar asked.

There was no reply, so Xandar looked around to see if Slade was asleep but he wasn't there. Xandar heard another twig snap and he pulled the knife out of his belt and crouched down near the camouflage net ready to pounce. The net was pulled aside and Xandar jumped on the intruder pushing them to the ground, holding the knife to their neck.

"Whoa, easy. It's me Xandar." Slade managed to choke out.

Xandar removed the knife and rolled off Slade, letting him stand up.

"Where've you been?" Xandar asked sliding the knife back into his belt.

"I went to check out the area to see if they were still looking for us." Slade explained rubbing his neck.

"And?" Xandar prompted.

"Well I didn't find any trace of anyone, so I went to look by the church."

"You really do have a death wish." Xandar quipped.

"I got there and there were no guards like there were last time, so I looked inside and it was empty. They've all gone somewhere." Slade said sounding thankful.

"They've probably gone after the Mallrats."

"Who are they?" Slade asked.

"No idea, but I wouldn't want to be them." Xandar replied. "Shall we get the others up and head to the inn then?"

"Sure."

Xandar and Slade moved over to the three sleeping figures and woke them up. They explained what had happened and within fifteen minutes they had reached the inn.

"Son of a..." Slade exclaimed.

Xandar looked over to what Slade was swearing at and he saw the motorbike tipped onto its side and covered in dirt.

"I guess they didn't like not being able to use it." Xandar managed to get out before he burst out laughing.

Slade turned round and scowled at Xandar and was about to say something back when he was interrupted by another voice shouting.

"Peter! Sally! You're both alive." Paul shouted and he ran over and gave them both a big embrace.

Jane and Xandar walked into the inn, leaving Slade to mope over his bike and the siblings to their moment of happiness.

"You wait down here, Jane." Xandar said.

He headed up the stairs and into the room that he'd been asleep in the previous day. He reached under the bed and pulled out two rucksacks. He slung them both over his shoulder and headed back down the stairs. When he reached the bar area he saw Slade, Jane, Peter and Sally sitting at a table talking to each other. He stood and watched them for a few minutes smiling too himself.

"I wanted to thank you, Xandar." Paul said, making Xandar jump at the sound of his voice.

"It was nothing, it's not like I went out of my way to find them. They just happened to be where I went." Xandar said uncomfortably.

"It doesn't matter; I still want to thank you. Here take this." Paul said holding out a bag.

"What is it?" Xandar asked.

"It's got some cans of food, a couple of fish and a few batteries. I've given one to Jane too" Paul explained.

"I can't take this." Xandar said embarrassed.

"Yes you can. It's my thank you." Paul insisted pushing the bag into Xandar's hands.

"Alright I'll take it, but you should take your knife and photo back." Xandar said holding both of them in his hands.

"I'll have the photo but you can keep the knife, I've got plenty of them in the back." Paul said taking the photo off Xandar.

Paul then walked over to his brother and sister and sat down next to them. Xandar looked down at the bag and knife in his hands and smiled too himself again. He then looked over to Jane.

"Come on, Jane." He called "We should go."

Jane stood up and walked over to Xandar, taking her rucksack off him when she got there.

"I should be going too" Slade said, and he got up from the table too.

Peter, Sally and Paul walked over to the three of them and said goodbye and thank you many times before they let them out of the door. Finally they did, and once they were outside Xandar turned to Slade.

"So what did they give you?" he asked.

"Some fuel for my bike and a few food cans." Slade replied.

"Figures." Xandar said. "So where are you off too now?"

"As far away from you two as I can manage. I think trouble follows you around." Slade said with a smirk on his face.

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you."

"Stay safe you two." Slade said putting on his helmet.

"Yeah you too, and I hope you find who you're looking for." Xandar replied sincerely.

"Bye, Slade." Jane said.

"I'll see you around." Slade said and he started his motorbike and sped off into the fields.

Xandar and Jane stood there for a moment watching Slade drive off into the distance.

"Come on, Jane. Let's head off." Xandar said breaking the silence.

"Where to?" Jane asked.

"I don't know, but after this experience something tells me that we've got to find ourselves a tribe to join if we want to protect each other."

Xandar took hold of Jane's hand and they both started walking out of the little village and back onto the road.

***

**A/N: That's the end of this story, but I should be posting the next part of Xandars tale sometime after christmas.**


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